Terrion Arnold had a pretty impressive NFL debut playing cornerback, all things considered. Facing off against two of the best wideouts in the NFL in Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua (until he got hurt) with a gunslinger like Matthew Stafford at quarterback is a very tough first assignment.
Arnold fared pretty well in coverage and also in run support. He surrendered some completions but did a good job of making sure they didn’t become big plays. However, Arnold was flagged twice for defensive pass interference. Each led to a Rams score.
Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn knows it isn’t easy to dive right into the deep end like Arnold did, and paid for it with the penalties. Glenn, a former Pro Bowl cornerback himself, knows the pro game is officiated differently than the college on.
Glenn was asked if Arnold has to learn to adjust to the different way NFL officials call the game.
“That’s exactly it,” Glenn responded. “You have to adjust to how the NFL calls these things and this is an offensive league. We know that. You’re absolutely right about how it is in college and that’s one thing that he has to adjust to, and we did a lot of work on that this week in practice. We’re going to continue to work on that.”
Glenn continued, stressing that he still wants Arnold to be aggressive in coverage,
“And he knows that when he came in. He knows it’s going to be different. He understands the magnitude of how the NFL sees offensive football, so we just have to continue to work on those things. But I will not tell him to slow down and take his aggressiveness away from him.”
